088 - Utility of HEARTSMAP-U for psychosocial screening and mental health resource navigation in the young adult population

Publication Number: 88.7034

Shane Murphy, University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine, Vancouver, BC, Canada; Karly Stillwell, University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine, Vancouver, BC, Canada; Diana Dadkhah Tirani, University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine, Vancouver, BC, Canada; Liz Lee, University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine, Whistler, BC, Canada; Jillian Wagg, University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine, Vancouver, BC, Canada; Quynh Doan, University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Background: Given the high prevalence of mental health struggles and long wait times for psychological assessment, validated digital self-assessment screening tools are essential to fill the gap. We previously validated the MYHEARSMAP tool for universal screening in children 7-16 years old. We subsequently adapted this instrument for young adults, focusing on the population in transition to the post-secondary education setting. This new tool, HEARTSMAP-U, captures the issues of older youth, addresses student-specific psychosocial needs, and recommends resources matching the type and urgency of their reported needs.

Objective: To assess the psychometric properties of HEARTSMAP-U, allowing for psychosocial self-assessment, early detection, and mental health resource navigation.

Design/Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study of young adults aged 17-29 who were voluntarily enrolled at two local university campuses. We used a proportional approach to match sociodemographic characteristics to that of the reported university’s student population. Participants completed psychosocial self assessments using HEARTSMAP-U on their personal device, which were then directly compared to equivalent, standardized assessments conducted by mental health clinicians. We reported the sensitivity and specificity of respondent self assessments against a clinician’s standard psychosocial evaluation - incorporating the frequency and severity of perceived needs, along with correlative resource recommendations.

Results: We recruited 619 eligible participants, of which 529 completed the necessary components of the study for analysis. Using HEARTSMAP-U, post-secondary students’ sensitivity of self-identifying any degree of psychiatric concern was 90% (95% CI 83, 94%). Among participants where clinicians identified there to be moderate to severe mental health concerns, 77% (95% CI 68, 84%) were similarly classified as moderate to severe concern by their HEARTSMAP-U self-assessments. When clinicians identified no psychiatric concerns, HEARTSMAP-U self-assessments similarly identified either no or mild concern in 70% (95% CI 65, 74%) of these participants.

Conclusion(s): Psychosocial screening with the HEARTSMAP-U self-assessment tool can be reliably implemented in a post-secondary population. Interestingly, a large cohort of respondents (12%) were deemed to have no psychiatric concerns by clinician evaluation, but disclosed information on their HEARTSMAP-U self-assessment in keeping with a severe degree of need. This specific population may represent a target group for intervention in future studies.

Figure 1. Patient flow through study enrollment and participation processes.


Figure 1. Patient flow through study enrollment and participation processes.